Conventional wisdom has it that The Hills, by virtue of being obliged to play on neutral territory, will fail in the defence of their trophy as they face Pembroke in today's Conqueror Cup final, which begins at 11.00 at Castle Avenue.
True, the holders enjoyed home advantage at The Vineyard when they saw off the same opposition a year ago, though mere location can hardly fully account for that deserved and fairly facile victory.
But it seems unlikely that Declan Moore and his team will go off the boil because they are obliged to play on the hallowed sod of Clontarf, and it's equally unlikely that Peter Davy and the Pembroke players will fall for any such assumption.
Undoubtedly, Pembroke are enjoying a pretty good season so far. Peter Davy's 600 runs to date is bettered by only Jason Molins of Carlisle, who has scored just six more, while Ian Solomon is well placed in the all-rounders' averages, with 281 runs and a haul of 24 wickets.
And last year's captain, Brian O'Rourke, has made 381 runs, with a fine undefeated century thrown in for good measure. But it is not to detract from these achievements to state the obvious and point out that statistics can be most misleading; just ask Matt Dwyer, who heads The Hills batting averages, with a startling 118.00.
On the day, the spoils generally go to the team which has the real hunger and which can create its own luck. On that basis, we should be in for a cracking final, for neither of these two sides will be lacking in either determination or the will to win.
Both have enjoyed commendable runs-in to today's final. The Hills accounted for Malahide, YMCA and Merrion, while en route to Castle Avenue, Pembroke had the boost of a bye to the second round, but then disposed of first Leinster and then Clontarf.
Perhaps the conventional wisdom has got it right, and Pembroke will start favourites because they are not obliged to venture into the fastnesses of Fingal. But even if the holders will not be performing in their spiritual home, they still are not all that distant from it in northside Dublin. It shouldn't be a surprise if, for the second successive summer, The Hills will be alive with the sound of celebratory clinking glasses this holday weekend.
There is only one Leinster Senior League match tomorrow, as Merrion take on CYM in Section B. Monday offers a programme of six matches, and the pick of them should be the Section A meeting of Pembroke and Carlisle at Sydney Parade.
Tomorrow at The Mardyke, Cork County take on UCC, captained by Mark Barriscale of Phoenix, in the final of the Munster Senior Cup. The recent emphatic win against the same opposition by over 100 runs in the Munster Senior League suggests that Cork County should retain the cup with some ease.
Meanwhile, there is good news from Aisling Kennedy, PRO of the Irish Women's Cricket Union, in advance of next week's three-match series against the South Africans, making their first appearance in Ireland. The Northern Ireland Sports Council have agreed to sponsor the first international, at the Civil Service ground at Stormont on Tuesday, and Canada Life will back next Thursday's second game, at Castle Avenue. The third match will be played at Sydney Parade on Friday.
The Hills: D Moore (capt), B Archer, M Clinton, Matt Dwyer, P Mooney, J Clinton, P Byrne, N Harper, P Hoare, Mick Dwyer, S Archer. 12th man: B Moore.
Pembroke: P Davy (capt), T Williamson, T Dagg, I Solomon, B O'Rourke, J Davy, R Hastie, D Butler, C Kavanagh, B Whaley, R Smith. 12th man: D Cox.
Phoenix: A Masood (capt), J Carnegie, J Atkinson, M Barriscale, A Carey, G Charlesworth, A Cox, D Ford, I Masood, K Morrison, H Prestige.
Clontarf: B McNeice (capt), J Daly, A Botha, D Gaughran, D McGeehan, R O'Reilly, M Ryan, K Spellman, D Vincent, J Barry, S Kuhn.
Old Belvedere: H Prior (capt), A Canavan, A Dunne, S Moore, T O'Gorman, K O'Malley, D O'Riordan, P O'Riordan, D Quinlan, F Synott, H Young.
Cork County: S Connole (capt), J Power, K Banks, R Wong, P Coleman, S Hickey, K Sorensen, G Holland, P Tynan, A Chambers, M Wicherley.
Umpires: Today: At Castle Avenue: Conqueror Cup final: L Hogan, S McCready. Junior Cup semi-finals: at Phoenix: L Hewson, T Deacon; at Cabra: J Connolly,C Rushe. Tomorrow: Senior League Section B: at Anglesea Road: B Carpenter, J Connolly.
